Dian Kuswandini The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 05/29/2008 10:34 AM | Business The government will continue its plan to reopen a tender for the procurement of telecommunication services in rural areas this year despite an ongoing lawsuit over its decision to terminate an earlier tendering process. Head of the legal division at the directorate general for post and telecommunications Santoso said the project, known as the Universal Service Obligation (USO), was crucial in securing a government target to connect 38,000 remote villages by 2010. The USO aims to ensure basic fixed line and wireless services are available at affordable rates to all citizen across the country, and offers specialized tariff schemes for low-income people for fixed network connections, internet access and public call boxes. "The reopening of the tender is very important because we want to start this project immediately. We want to make sure we don't miss the target to open telecommunication access in some 38,000 villages by 2010, as mandated by the President," he added. The government, under the directorate general, opened the USO tender last July and estimated the project would cost Rp 3.7 trillion. Of 45 companies joining last year's tender, only two companies, PT Telkom and PT Asia Cellular Satelite (ACeS), met the first round of prerequisites, with both offering Rp 5.2 trillion and Rp 1.7 trillion respectively for conducting the project. However, the directorate general said later none of the companies had passed the following stage, and that the tender would be terminated. ACeS filed a lawsuit on Dec. 17 to the State Administrative Court (PTUN), requesting the directorate general's decision be annulled. ACeS' lawyer Swandy Halim said his client had passed the final stage of the tender process and should have won the tender. ACeS won the case on May 22 with the court ruling the directorate general to reopen the tender and the Minister of Communications and Information to announce ACeS the winner. The court further ruled the directorate general to comply within three months or pay Rp 1 billion per day in fines. The directorate general requested an appeal to the State Administrative High Court (PTTUN) on Monday. "We are not satisfied with the ruling. It's not the court's authority to order the minister to declare ACeS as the winner," the directorate's lawyer David Abraham said, insisting ACeS had failed to reach the final stage of the tender. "It was a pre-qualification stage, so ACeS was not yet a winner for the tender. The price offered by ACeS for the project was too low," David said. Swandy said reopening the tender during an ongoing legal process would violate the court ruling. "It would be a violation and we would file another complaint to the Court." he said, adding that the government would likely obey the PTUN ruling. "If the government wants to start this project immediately for the sake of the public, then it should announce ACeS as the winner, as ordered by the Court, so that both the government and ACeS can start the project soon."